Shout-outs

Fox News voter fraud theory debunked

When Fox News host Maria Bartiromo said a “friend’s wife” saw a “massive line of immigrants” registering to vote outside a local driver’s license office, Cody drove out to check. No line. A Texas DPS spokesperson told him the theory was not true and “kind of racist.”

Cody’s story for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram was picked up by several local, national and international outlets, including The New Republic, The Independent and Mediaite, among others. The piece even made a cameo on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and was cited in a Senate Judiciary Committee letter to Texas AG Ken Paxton accusing him of “attacks against voting rights in North Texas.”

Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs

Margaret Myers, the Director of the Asia and Latin America Program at the
international affairs-oriented think tank Inter-American Dialogue, remarked,
“Economic ties between the U.S. and Mexico are so profound that a slight increase
in China-Mexico activity is not going to fundamentally change that dynamic.” She
maintains that China could never replace the United States as a dominant or
primary economic partner.

Cody Copeland, “Heightened US-China tensions present economic opportunities for Mexico,” Courthouse News Service, 22 September 2021, https://www.courthousenews.com/.

Protecting the Hemisphere: Safeguarding US Interests and Prioritizing Partnerships for a Stable Hemisphere, May-June 2024

Cody’s coverage of Mexico for Courthouse News has been described by journalists at Forbes and Reforma as broader, sharper and more frequent than other established U.S. outlets. In May 2023, the former counted an article of his among its Five Must-Read Articles About Modern Mexico.

His reporting on Mexico’s Supreme Court, political landscape, the migrant experience and other pressing issues has been used to inform the work of lawyers, universities, civil society organizations and other media outlets. Here are some of his more prominent mentions on the world wide web.

Nieman Journalism Lab

Martínez took charge of Notimex in 2019. In 2022, employees told Courthouse News Service that the work environment “became one of ‘labor terrorism.’” Reporters were asked to publish information they couldn’t verify and were stopped from covering certain issues and people. Martínez also allegedly fired 245 staffers without cause.

From Cody Copeland‘s Courthouse News Service piece:

At one point during the construction of a controversial mixed-use development that now boasts Mexico City’s tallest skyscraper, …

Mexican journalists launch a new outlet from the ashes of the country’s shuttered state news agency, March 2024

Forbes

On May 9, Courthouse News published this article about Mexican President López Obrador’s latest effort to undermine the independence of Mexico’s judiciary as the country’s Supreme Court takes measures to block parts of his legislative agenda. In the article, Cody Copeland quotes legal scholar Sergio Lopez Ayllon who explains, “Electing Supreme Court justices would radically change the court’s functions. It would cease to be a technical, legal, constitutional body to one of a political nature, and therefore it would lose the impartiality and independence characteristic of constitutional tribunals.”

Five Must-Read Articles About Modern Mexico, May 2023

On March 1, Courthouse News Service published this article about President Lopez Obrador’s struggles to achieve his policy goals and eliminate corruption. Cody Copeland explains, “federal auditors announced they had found ‘irregularities’ totaling over 15 billion pesos (US $816 million) in [Segalmex] and its distribution subsidiaries Diconsa and Liconsa since 2019. That number more than doubles the previous record for government embezzlement in Mexico.”

Mexico’s President Lopez Obrador Is An Unreliable Business Partner, March 2023

Latin America Working Group

Cited alongside The Washington Post, Reuters, El País and others in the group’s Migration News Brief for February 17, 2023. Story in “Mexican Enforcement” section.

“Mexico’s military now has more money for administration and equipment than the country’s legislative and judicial branches combined.”

Mexico’s 2023 military equipment fund larger than two federal branches combined | Courthouse News Service Cody Copeland, February 13, 2023

Justice In Mexico

The practice of preventive detention is common in Mexico as 40% of the people in Mexico’s prisons in 2021 were not formally convicted of a crime. (Courthouse News Service) According to the United States Department of State, while the law provides time limits and conditions on pretrial detention, federal authorities often fail to comply with regulations since the federal judicial system is overwhelmed with cases. Moreover, mandatory pretrial detention overwhelmingly affects poor and undereducated populations in Mexico. Two thirds of the detainees in pretrial detention in 2021 had not received an education beyond secondary school and a quarter of the detainees were workers who received less than Mexico’s minimum wage of $150 USD per month. (Courthouse News Service)

Copeland, Cody. “Inter-American Court: Mexico’s mandatory pretrial detention violates human rights.” Courthouse News Service. January 27, 2023

The Inter-American Court for Human Rights Condemns Mexico for Human Rights Abuses, Feb 2023

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

 In January 2023, Mexico announced that the first concessions to a State-owned company would be awarded in February 2023.[30]

[30] Cody Copeland, US Urges Mexico to Open Up Lithium Production to Private Sector, Courthouse News Serv. (Jan. 17, 2023).

Investors’ Right to Seek NAFTA Protections Set to Expire on 1 July 2023, March 2023

Universities, Civil Society and Reference pages

Republications